The American firm has invested in Jetty, a software platform for property managers and renters, and Inspectify, a property inspection platform
Fundrise, known for its real estate investment platform, launched its Innovation Fund last year with the goal of offering access to venture tech investments for as little as $10. In a move that overlaps real estate and tech investment, the fund recently announced two new investments in the proptech sector: Jetty and Inspectify.
In September, the fund announced a $2 million investment in Jetty, an integrated financial services software platform for property managers and renters. It was part of a round led by Citi Impact Fund and joined by PayPal Ventures and Experian Ventures. This follows a $4 million investment in Inspectify, a designer of property inspection software, in July. The Innovation Fund led that funding round, which also included investors such as Nine Four Ventures, Munich Re Ventures, Foundation Capital, and DivcoWest Ventures.
While the fund is investing widely outside of real estate tech, CEO Ben Miller said that Fundrise’s experience as a real estate fintech could inform its strategy. “We are a fintech company, so we have something about finance, and we know something about technology – the type of technologies we are interested in, we actually use,” said Miller.
He added, “Breadth and depth is an asset, not a liability. I think our Innovation Fund will make us a better investor in real estate too. The two biggest drivers of real estate are demographics and technology. We always go back to macro and technology. Combine macro thinking with great technology products, and we can create better outcomes for investors. So the deeper we get in technology, I think the better off we are and better off our investors are.”
In a letter to investors, the Innovation Fund detailed its reasoning for investing in Jetty. Citing the 36% of Americans (120 million people) who rent their homes and the fact that rental housing represents approximately 12% of the US gross domestic product, the letter argues that Jetty is addressing a need for flexible services for renters and property managers.
“With the launch of their first four products and adoption by many of the largest owners and managers in the country (including Fundrise), Jetty is the clear leader in the race to modernize the financial services aspect of rental real estate, and well on their way to becoming the overall category winner,” read the letter.
The fund’s other recent proptech investment, Inspectify, is a property inspection platform with a client base that includes real estate investors, property managers, lenders, insurance carriers, and brokerages across the U.S. Its technology is designed to standardize and streamline inspection services, gathering and reporting data on issues such as property conditions, appliance life spans, and repair cost estimates.
Inspectify and Jetty are Innovation Fund’s first two proptech investments, but they will likely not be the last. The sector is growing, with some estimates forecasting a 9% compound annual growth rate in the next 10 years to reach a value of $86.5 billion. Given Fundrise’s history of involvement in the sector and its recent focus on building a tech investment fund, proptech could be a significant target for future investment.
